Sometimes in sports betting, a team can be so bad that the market severely discounts its odds and it actually becomes a good bet. We call those “Zombie Teams”.

Each week, we unleash our favorite “Zombie Team” on the bookies, explaining just how these terrible teams have come back from the betting dead and are biting books with hidden value.

This week’s Zombie Team: New Orleans Pelicans (32-45 SU, 33-38-6 ATS)

New Orleans didn’t get the result it wanted after a wild offseason and a rebranding as the Pelicans. It remained competitive in the Western Conference for a chunk of the schedule before the wear and tear of life in the West took its toll and injuries began to pile up, currently putting New Orleans 14 games out of the playoffs.

The Pelicans proved they could play with the NBA elite with victories over the Clippers and Heat last month but a recent rash of road games has New Orleans on a five-game slide, playing four of those contests away from the Big Easy and finishing 1-3-1 ATS.

The Pelicans are without Jrue Holiday, Ryan Anderson and Jason Smith, and Eric Gordon and Anthony Davis are playing with pain in the home stretch of the schedule. Davis is battling back spasms and the team is flirting with shutting down the blossoming big man for the remainder of the season.

Even if Davis does play out the rest of the slate, Pelicans bettors will pack their pockets with points with their five remaining games versus playoff-bound opponents. New Orleans hosts Phoenix Wednesday, and then plays road tilts in Oklahoma City and Houston before hosting those two teams in the final games of the year.

Phoenix is still fighting for a postseason pass but finds itself in a tough spot versus the Pelicans, coming off a win over the Thunder and visiting San Antonio following Wednesday’s game. New Orleans, which has had two full days off, is 19-17-2 ATS at home and has gone 3-1-1 ATS in its last five games inside the Smoothie King Center.